Fr Gerald was born on March 19, 1929 in Venice, Illinois. he attended the minor seminary at St Meinrad Archabbey and entered the novitiate there on July 31, 1949. He professed simple vows on August 1, 1950. In 1953, he came to Blue Cloud Abbey where he professed solemn vows on August 5, 1954. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 24, 1955.

From 1956 until 1958 Fr Gerald was a field missionary at St Paul's Indian Mission, Marty, South Dakota. For the next ten years, he taught in the high school and prefected at Immaculate Conception Indian Mission, Stephan, South Dakota. In 1968 he was recalled to Blue Cloud for one year to assist in the conducting of retreats. He returned to Marty Mission in 1969 as a counselor in the school. In 1970 Fr Gerald was named superior of St Michael's Indian Mission, St Michael, North Dakota where he remained until being assigned to the parish in Devils Lake.

Although Fr Gerald sometimes like to pretend that he had a gruff personality, he was really a cheerful person with a fine sense of humor. He was a dedicated missionary, teacher, and pastor who did not hesitate to take on additional responsibilities in whatever assignments he was given. He was also a faithful monk, although he liked to feign symptoms of illness whenever he returned to the monastery. He claimed that he felt weak and his body began to ache when he saw the abbey bell tower after making the bend in the road from Marvin. His confreres knew this was another ruse. After participating in events which brought the "expositi" back to the abbey for several days, Fr Gerald was often the last to leave. Although he was the only monk of his generation in the community who used snuff, Fr Gerald had a penchant for neatness and cleanliness. He was orderly about everything.

Fr Gerald was buried in our cemetery on the Feast of St Joseph, the day on which he would have celebrated his fifty-fifth birthday and the feast of the saint whose name he received at baptism.